Rotary engine.



E. HARRIGAN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FlLED NOV. 23,1915.

192299949 meme@ Jun@ 12,1917.

E. HARRIGAN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED N0v.23.1915.

31922999419., Patented June 12, 11117.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

/J2 25 f@ Q 1 1 KZ i i' EDWARD -HRRIGAN, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1917..

Application led November 23, 1915'. Serial No. 63,135.

To all wlwmz't may concern:

Be it known that l, EDWARD HARRIG'AN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of |Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines, of which the following is a speci.- ication.

My invention relates to rotary engines and particularly to one which has an eX- plosion chamber separate from the piston chamber with which it is connected by suitable ports or pipes and valves with their operating mechanisms for controlling these ports. l

The object of my invention is to improve upon engines of this general class, and particularly to produce a type of engine which may be reversible.

The novel features of my invention will be herein described pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings l have shown tion which is now most preferred by me.

Figure l is a side view thereof being in section through the wall `of the cylinder casings.

Fig. 2 is a central horizontal section.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section through an abutment rotor on line 3-3 of F ig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical axial section through the piston rotor, on line 494 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through the casing which contains the explosion chamber and the valves.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical section through the walls of the said casing showing the valve actuating shaft and cams and the valves.

Fig. 7 is anl enlarged side view of the cams used upon one of the shafts.

The power rotor 1 is secured on shaft 11, and carries piston vanes 1.0, preferably of the circular disk type as shown. l have shown two piston disks on each rotor although more may be used.

Abutmcnt rotors 2 and 20 secured on shafts 21 have their outer part or rim 22 of the same cross sectional outline as that of' the -piston disks 10. The diameter of the power rotor and its abutment rotors and their mounting is .such that the outlines ofY the rims 22 of the abutment rotors and handled, applied and then particularly 50 through which the explosive charge is my invention in the form of construe- V- ...fare discharged, connects with chamber 6.

0f my engine7 part 4'The connection of both these pipes with of the piston disks coincide on their common axial plane. rlhe abutment rotors are cut into, forming chambers, 23, to permit passing of the piston disks. The shafts 11 and 21 are connected for synchronous rotation by gears 12. rI`he power rotor and the abutment rotors are inclosed within a casing 3, which may be so constructed as to constitute the engine base and frame. lt has chambers fitting closely about the rotors and bearings for their shafts.

At one side, concentric with the shaft of the power rotor, is a part which contains chambers, ports and valves whereby the eX- plosive charge and the burnt gases are and directed.

At its center, or concentric with the shaft 11, is an explosion chamber 4, through which passes an extension 13 of the shaft 11. Surrounding this chamber are two annular chambers 5 and 6. The supply pipe drawn, connects with chamber, 5 and the eX- haust pipe 60, through which 'the their respective chambers is controlled by valves 51 and 61, which open inwardly, and are acted upon by springs, as 62, Fig. 6, to hold them open.

The wall between the central explosion chamber 4 and the surrounding chambers 5 and 6 is providedwith ports controlled by valves 41 and 42, upon by springs. Valves 41 connecting the explosion chamber with the chamber 5, open outwardly, or into chamber 5, while valves 42 connecting explosion chamber with exhaust chamber 6, open inwardly. Valves 41 are opened by theirsprings, and valves 42 are closed by their springs.

Through chambers 5 and 6 pass cam shafts 7, paralleling shaft 13, and connected therewith by gears. 0n these shafts are cams 70, 71, and 72, so placed and shaped as to act upon the valves 41, 42. 51, and 61, to secure their opening and closing at proper times. The shapes of these cams are approximately shown in Fig. 7.

.A spark plug, or spark plugs, are inserted through the Walls into chamber 4, as is shown at 8 in Fig. 4.

The chamber 5 is connected from one side by a pipe or conduit 52, with one side of the chamber of the power rotor l, at a point spent ga ses which are likewise acted i 66. rlhe valves 54, just above thevaxial plane of the shafts 1l and 21, and from the other side by a pipe or conduit 53, which connects with the opposite side of the rotor chamber at a point 55, which is near but below the same axial plane.

The chamber 6 is connected, at one side, by, pipe or conduit 63 with the chamber of the power rotor ata point 65 similarly located as point 54, but at opposite sides of the central axial plane. The opposite side of the chamber 6 is connected by apipe 64 with the chamber of the power rotor at 66, similarly located with the point 55, but at opposite side of the central or axial plane. The two pipes from each of these chambers connect with the chamber of the power rotor respectively at opposite sides of the axial plane, such connections being oppositely placed for the respective chambers.

The operation of the engine, which requires one and one-half revolutions of the piston rotor l for a complete cycle, is as follows.

As the first piston disk 10 passes the port 54 connecting with the supply chamber 5, it sucks in a charge of the explosive mixture. At the same time the second disk 10 sucks in a charge through port 55, also connected to the supply chamber 5. rlhe second disk, after a half-revolution finds the charge drawn in by the first disk, compresses it, and expels it through the port 65; the first disk compresses the charge drawn in by the second disk, and expels it through the port 41, controlling the ports 54 and 55 are closed during this portion of the cyc c, but the vvalves 42 are opened, by the action of either the spring or the compression, or both, and the compressed mixture is admitted to the explosion chamber 4. Here the charge is exploded at the proper time.

The pressure of the exploded gases opens the valves y41, their cams being then inoperative to hold `the valves closed. After the first disk has passed the port 54, and the second disk the port 55, for the second time, this explosion occurs, and the pressure is admitted to the piston chamber behind the pistons l0 to give them an impulse. Valves 42 and 61 are closed at this time to retain the pressure.

The expanding force of the gases is used while the piston disks are going through approximately a quarter revolution. lThe valves 41 close, and valve 61 is opened. The second disk, which had been given an impulse just after passing the port 55, forces the burnt gases behind the first disk out through the port 65 to the exhaust chamber `6, and thence through the pipe 60 to the atmosphere, and similarly, the first disk scavenges the chamber of the burnt ,gases behind the second disk, and expels them 'ton chamber, and a through the port 66. The second disk then draws in a charge of explosive mixture through the port 54, and the cycle is repeated, except that the second disk now takes the place of the first disk for one cycle, and discharges the gases through the ports formerly used by the first disk.

What l claim as my invention is:

l. A gas engine hav-ing rotative piston and abutment members, a casing having chambers for said members, a primary expansion chamber, an ignition chamber and an exhaust chamber, channels connecting said expansion and exhaust chambers with the pisvalve in each of said channels.

2. A gas engine having rotative piston and abutment members, a casing having chambers for said members, a primary expansion chamber and an exhaust chamber in annular form, an ignition chamber within the expansion and exhaust chambers, valves connecting the ignition chamber with each of the surrounding chambers, and ports connecting each of the expansion and exhaust chambers with the piston chamber.

3. A gas engine having rotative piston and abutment members, a casing having chambers for said members, a primary expansion chamber, an ignition chamber and an exhaust chamber, channels connecting said expansion and exhaust chambers with the piston chamber, a valve in each of said channels, and rotative shafts having cams thereon for actuating said valves.

4. A gas engine having rotative piston and abutment members, a casing having chambers for said members," a primary expansion chamber and an exhaust chamber in annular form, an ignition chamber within the expansion -and exhaust chambers, valves connecting the ignition chamber with each of the surrounding chambers, ports connecting the expansion and exhaust chambers with the piston chamber, and two ports connecting each piston chamber adjacent the common axial plane defined by the piston and rotor shafts, and at opposite sides of the chamber cylinder, the pair of said ports leading from the same side of the chamber cylinder communiy eating with the piston chamber at opposite sides of the axial plane.

5. An explosive engine of the character described comprising a piston chamber, a piston rotatable therein, an explosion cham. ber separate from the piston chamber, and surrounding the rotative axis of the piston, two annular chambers surrounding opposite ends of the explosion chamber, one serving successively as an admission and as a primary expansion chamber, and the other-as a compression and as an exhaust chamber,

ports communicating between the explosion chamber and the expansion and exhaust of said annular chambers with the meente chambers, valves adapted to control said ports, shaftsl passing through said annular chambers, and cams on said shafts controlling said valves. i

` 6. An explosive engine of the character de scribed, comprising a piston chamber, a piston rotatable therein, an explosion chamber separate from the piston chamber and surrounding the rotative axis of the piston, two annular chambers surrounding opposite ends of the explosion chamber, a valve controlled connection with one annular chamber for supplying an explosive mixture thereto, a valve controlled exhaust lconnection with the other annular chamber., the Walls between the central explosion chamber and the surrounding annular chambers having ports connecting said chambers, valves controlling said last named ports, shafts extending through said annular chambers, having rotative connection with the piston shaft, and cams on said shafts controlling the valves,

A rotary engine comprising a rotor carrying projecting piston disks, rotating abutment members having rim sections of like cross-section as that of the piston disks, said rotor and abutment members being mounted to have coinciding paths of rotation at one point, the abutment members having recesses receiving the piston disks, a casing inclosing said rotor and abutment members, an explosion chamber, a primary expansion chamber and an exhaust chamber, ports connecting the said chambers with each other and with the chamber of the piston rotor, valves controlling said ports, and cams controlling said valves.

Signed at Tacoma, Washington, this 10th day of November, 1915.,

- EDW'ARD HARRIGAN. 

